


Take It Apart

by evildevilgirl02



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-25 00:42:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3790243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evildevilgirl02/pseuds/evildevilgirl02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She got a new face.  Well...new faces.  But not her own.  Never her own.<br/>If the pieces inside were the same, but the exterior was new, was she really the same person she had been before?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take It Apart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scribblemyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/gifts).



> Thanks to @evayna for last minute beta-ing and helping with the title! This deviates from your prompt a little bit, but I hope you like it anyway.

When Kara was seven, she took apart a metronome to see the parts inside.  It took her two weeks to put it all back together, to the annoyance of her piano teacher.  That alone almost made Kara want to _not_ put it back together, but her mom was insistent.

When Kara was ten, she took apart a remote control.  It was wires and circuits and parts she didn’t have names for.  The next day, she went to a library and checked out a book called _How Things Work_.

  
  


When she was seventeen, she came home one day to find her parents sitting with Mr. Fury, the reclusive man from across the street.  It wasn’t that he never left his house, it was just that she rarely saw him.

“Oh, Kara, good.  You're finally home.  Good.”

“Mom?  What's going on?”

“Miss Palamas, I'm Nick Fury, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division?”

Kara saw the corner of his lip curled up, which was encouraging, because the rest of his face was utterly inscrutable.  “Yes.  Miss Palamas, you’ve caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we’re interesting in offering you a position as an agent, after you’ve gone through the proper training.”

“Wait, seriously?!”  She’d done her research- well, as much research as could be done a semi-secret government organization- and S.H.I.E.L.D. was right up there with the C.I.A.  The closest she could get to being James Bond.  It wasn’t that she particularly _wanted_ to be James Bond, but who’d turned down that opportunity if it was offered to them?

“Kara?”

“Right, sorry, what was that you said about training?”

“There is a special Academy you’d have to attend for a few years, but after that, you would become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

It all sounded incredible, but there was something about his original wording that still bothered her.  “Um, question.”

“Ask it.”

“How _exactly_ did I catch S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention?”

At this, Mr. Fury broke his gaze away from Kara.  “Kara- Miss Palamas, do you remember that time you played hide-and-seek and broke into my house, and nobody could find you for two hours?”

“Yes.”  She was five.  Was he still bitter about that?

“Do you remember the science fair project you did a few years ago, about how to pinpoint someone’s weaknesses?  Take them apart psychologically?”

“Yes.”  It’d been more of a psychology project than a hard science project, but she threw in enough facts about chemicals in the brain that it just qualified.

And Mr. Fury kept going and going, a laundry list of things she’d done that S.H.I.E.L.D. somehow saw as “exceptional” and reasons for her to qualify as potential-agent-material.

“Mr. Fury, thank you for this incredible opportunity.  I just…need some time to think about it.”

“You have two weeks.  When you’ve made your decision, I’m right across the street.”

  
  


In time, Kara got accepted into the Academy of Operations.  In time, she graduated, and became a level 1 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.  James Bond phase 1, complete.

  
  


“Go to this address.  I’ll be there in half an hour.”

Half an hour later, she was wrapping bandages around Grant’s wound while he did his best to hold still.

“I haven’t done this before.”

“Betray HYDRA?”

“I was going to say ‘fix a bullet wound’, but that works too.”

“Thanks, by the way.  For that.”  Grant leaned back against the bedpost, but kept his eyes on Kara.

“You’ve already thanked me five times.  Shut up already.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She finished wrapping and covered the end with a bit of tape.  “There.  That should do it.  In any case, this is the best you’re gonna get without going to a hospital.”

It was left unspoken, but they both knew he wasn’t going to a hospital.  Too much risk of getting caught by HYDRA.  Or S.H.I.E.L.D.

“We have to get out of here,” Kara said.  “This apartment belongs to Whitehall, and they’ll check up on it soon.”

“Alright, what’s your plan?”  Grant groaned as he sat up.

“Rent a car, and drive away from here.  I have enough cash to tide us over for a while, and they won’t be able to follow our trail.”

He raised an eyebrow.  “How much cash do you have?”

“A couple hundred thousand.”

“A couple hundred _thousand_ -”

“I emptied Whitehall’s nearest account, now let’s _go_.”

  
  


Kara had worn this face for months.  She no longer remember what she looked like.  Who was she, even?  She thought she remember things, but the brainwashing confused things...so much contradiction, confusion, darkness…

She tried to focus on one thing at a time.  It helped, sometimes.

 _Dedication_.  School, S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA.  Work hard.  Compliance will be rewarded.

 _Happiness_.  Pieces of a metronome.  Whitehall telling her he was pleased with her work.

 _Loyalty_...it was like trying to pick a raindrop out of a puddle.  Wait, no, that’s not it.

If someone took her apart, what would they see?  Were the parts inside working together like she was supposed to?  Was she broken?  Something to be thrown out and replaced?

  
  


She got a new face.  Well...new faces.  But not her own.  Never her own.

If the pieces inside were the same, but the exterior was new, was she really the same person she had been before?

  
  


It was- _yes_.   _This_ was her face.  She couldn’t say how she knew, but every fiber of her being yelled _this is you_ when she stared in the mirror.

She was burned, she was kinda ugly, but she was _home_.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.”  She turned around and saw the man who made it all possible.  “I’m Grant.”

She shook his hand, tears welling up in her eyes.  “Kara.”  

“I’m proud of you, Kara.”

Unable to hold back her tears, Kara reached over and hugged Grant.  “Thank you so much,” _for giving me back my face_.

Grant pulled away and looked back at her.  “You did this.”   _You got your face back_.  “And it is just the beginning.”

“Guess that’s true.  It’s going to be a long night.”

He just smiled.  “Guess we should get started, then.”

They turned to look at Bakshi, who was staring at a screen that was very familiar to Kara.  It was one of the few memories she had that didn’t blur.

“You really think this will work?”

Kara shrugged.  Did it matter?  A part of her didn’t care.  “We’ll see.”

She walked over and ripped the tape of Bakshi’s mouth.

“If I behave, will my compliance be rewarded?”

How dare he.  How dare he throw all the pain he inflicted on her right back in her face.  This was why she was doing this, letting Bakshi enjoy a taste of his own medicine.

“To be honest, it really won’t make a difference.”

And it didn’t.


End file.
